Delancey Hospital Cheltenham

Well its been a long waiting game for this place to close and then when it finally shut a couple of weeks ago we decided to check it out. Has to be my newest empty building i have done, place felt in parts you could just opening it straight back up again, even smelt like a hospital.

The site had been fenced off already and regular patrols of security who drive the site meant we had to find somewhere reasonably quick to get in, but we walked round that place 4 times before stumbling across access which was typically in site of the nosey neighbours who we could see watching us through the windows.

A bit of making out we were surveying using our tripods and time against us for light we just went for it, the beeping we could hear inside turned out to be the firealarm power out warning trip running and not alarm system as we had suspected.

The site opened in 1871 as the Delancey Fever Hospital and was named after Mrs Delancey who stumped up the cash to part fund its opening. In its latter days i think it was more a Geriatric patients with it being your last stop before departing, in its earlier days(pre 48) it was used as an isolation hospital.

Most of the shots are on high ISO as my failing tripod died and despite plenty of tape surgery, i finally hd to call it a day and abandoned it in the old hospital, fair well you served me well.

Stanley Mill - Stroud.

What can you say about this Mill, its massive and absolutely amazing inside. 

Headed up there being almost sure we would not get in, an to be fair it turned out to be a good challenge and slightly technical, however fortune was with us and we managed to navigate a large percentage of the mill and leave it so no one would ever know we had been there...

The machines on the second floor are just fantastic, they used to be run i believe as part of a tour that once ran although i believe they are listed as well as the building..

The top floor looks to have had a lot of resent restoration work done and the building as a whole was im virtually perfect condition given its age.

Bit of History, 

Stanley Mill is sited on the River Frome between Stroud and Stonehouse. Built in 1813, this unusual five-storey brick building was the largest mill in Gloucestershire.  

Owned by a cloth-manufacturing partnership, Maclean, Stephens and Company, the mill complex could accommodate up to 900 workers.

With its highly-decorative iron-frame, Stanley Mill was designed as one of the first fire-proof mills in England.  Regarded as the outstanding mill in the Stroudwater region, it was one of the first to adopt new machinery and the factory system.  

The Site is an English Heritage Site although the owner want to convert the current Building into flats, EH are 

working with them to ensure the buildings future.....

St Georges Hospital, Stafford County asylum

Went up to see the slightly cremated remains of Stafford county Asylum, a couple of false starts and a wall crumbling, dumping plaster and a window frame all over me as we went in but its all part of the fun.
Some of the worst floors without doubt, some mostly gone...some floors were actually held together with the carpet, the vast majority just not there. Now not long for this world as developers have purchased the site and demolition looms. The bulding has suffered two major fires at seperate times leaving parts of the building completely empty.
One thing of note was the fantastic but in very poor condition Victorian greenhouse, still containing all its metal work and a steam house building next to it in the grounds... few pictures

Brunswick College - Art and Design

This is the matching set and was the Art and Design section of the Campus, located over the road from the main Campus. Been shut for around 6 years and had been totally sealed using metal window guards but these have recently been removed. Over all was not really worth the pictures but does have a couple of nice parts such as the television studio and the developing room...

Brunswick College Campus - Gloucester

So after knowing about this for a long time, and the curtain closing on the place i heard that it was do able again and i set off with Clebby to Educate ourselves. I actually used to go here in the mid 90's on a work based chemistry scheme to educate us a touch more... cant remember any of it now.
Sad seeing the place in such a state, pikey'd as usual the buildings are set for demolition to become a housing estate. The Redwood in the Square in the centre was actually a direct decendant from a extinct variety until one turned up in china in the 40's and this tree is a seed from that tree. Still not sure if the campaign to save it was a success or not, but i would guess not... few pictures..

Imber Village - Wiltshire

i Not my usual sort of thing but fancied a look over Christmas of the little remains of the village of Imber which is used by the MOD for training on Salisbury Plain...It is open for short periods over Easter and Christmas.

The village was abandoned through forced eviction in November 1943 and while a lot has been demolished a few buildings remain.

During our visit the 13C, grade 1 listed St Giles Church was open and was also abandoned at the same time, only in the last year or two restoration work has been done to stop it collapsing....so we could have a look around.

A news pressing from the time which gives a better idea of what went on...

Abbey Mills Pumping Station

This was a quick visit after heading over to see Killing Joke gigging in London the night before. The place was just so amazing i had to see it with my own eyes, so Lou and me headed off, skipped the fence and found a way in, a friend waiting in the car (non explorer) meant we didn't have forever ....
Some  Brief history ...
 The original Abbey Mills Pumping Station, in Abbey Lane, London E15, is a sewerage pumping station, designed by engineer Joseph Bazalgette, Edmund Cooper, and architect Charles Driver. It was built between 1865 and 1868. It was designed in a cruciform plan, with an elaborate Byzantine style, described as The Cathedral of Sewage

The pumps raised the sewage in the London sewerage system between the two Low Level Sewers and the Northern Outfall Sewer, which was built in the 1860s to carry the increasing amount of sewage produced in London away from the centre of the city.
Two Moorish styled chimneys – unused since steam power had been replaced by electric motors in 1933 – were demolished during the Second World War, as they were a landmark for German bombers on raids over the London docks.
The building still houses electric pumps – to be used in reserve for the new facility next door.


This place is for real, the worlds most beutifull shit pumping station?